The Bowling Green City Commission unanimously approved Tuesday use of an alternative zoning procedure, a move City Manager Jeff Meisel said would improve efficiency and save resources since it would remove the commission’s responsibility to approve all zoning changes.

“This has always been available, we just haven’t taken advantage of it,” Meisel said. “Decisions made at (the planning commission) can just be the final decision.”

Currently, the process calls for zoning applications to be voted on by the City County Planning Commission and then forwarded to the city commission for rezonings within the city limits. Those in the county go to Warren Fiscal Court.

The city commission then holds a first reading of the application with a vote becoming final upon a second reading. This process can take up to 90 days.

Meisel said under the new plan, the city commission would not hear the rezoning request or vote on it unless a request is made for it to do so. If a request is made, the application will be sent to the city commission for a vote.

If a request is not made, the planning commission vote would be final in 21 days.

“Ninety-five percent of applications made to the planning commission have no opposition,” Meisel said. “In cases where there is no opposition, that will reduce the approval times up to 41 days.”

Meisel said the change would not impact the rest of the zoning application process or the public input process.

The commission on Tuesday also approved the submission for a grant for the Bowling Green Fire Department from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Staffing Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program.

The application requests a total of $3.8 million and would cover pay and benefits for 12 new BGFD firefighters for the next three years. The grant would not require matching funds, according to a memo from Nick Cook, grants coordinator for the City of Bowling Green.

Department Deputy Chief Bret Smith said the money allows four firefighters to fill three shifts. He said in some areas of Bowling Green – for example near the Bowling Green–Warren County Regional Airport – only three firefighters are present on shifts.

Smith cited a recent fire on Lost Woods Circle where several people and an 11-month old baby were rescued to show the need for more firefighters.

“This grant is specifically designed to help reach those standards to be able to accomplish multiple critical tasks at the same time,” he said.

The commission also approved a $386,488 grant from Kentucky Community Development Block Grant program funding for the construction of a “boardwalk” along the existing Jennings Creek Greenway. The grant does not require matching funds.

Brent Childers, director of Neighborhood and Community Services, said the boardwalk will allow for greater accessibility to the creek.

Meisel said the city originally requested $250,000 for the project, but there was money “floating around everywhere.”

“The state is looking for people that can use it and we can definitely use it,” Meisel said.

A separate $250,000 block grant requiring matching funds of $87,000 for a new “live-fire training unit” at BGFD Station 5 was also approved. The unit allows for firefighters in training to work with actual fires. The matching funds would cover the remainder of the cost for the unit.

The commission’s next regular meeting is scheduled for April 16.